As always, it was fun to visit Panama. This time we combined some of our favorite places and people with a new location.

We began with a few days at the Canopy Bed and Breakfast in Gamboa. This community was built in the 1930’s for the managers and workers of the Panama Canal Company. These days, it’s a great base for exploring Pipeline Road and Gatun Lake.

Some of the interesting inhabitants we saw in the Canal Zone were:

The new location this trip was an area near Nusagandi, in the mountains of the San Blas Province. We stayed at Garduk Lodge, owned and operated by the indigenous Guna (or Kuna) people. This is an area of wet Caribbean rainforest. We found STEEP trails and had quite a lot of rain during our short time here. Our local guide Igua took us on several trails but we never found the Spiny-faced Antshrike, Terry’s most-wanted bird.

Although we didn’t spend the night there, we still visited the Canopy Tower during the daytime. The view from the top is always spectacular!

The last part of our trip was spent at Canopy Lodge in El Valle del Anton, Cocle Province, which is really our ‘home away from home’.

Birding was fairly productive here, with these birds and other creatures.

We enjoyed spending time with our good friends Denise and Raul Arias de Para, as well as catching up with Raul’s cousin Miguel de Para and his wife Maribeth Nesbitt.

A surprising treat was to see Jeri Langham at Canopy Lodge! Jeri led the first foreign trip we took together, a trip with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours to Venezuela in 1987, and we had not seen him in many years. It was great to catch up!

We had unexpectedly good timing for our trip. Pope Francis arrived there a few days after we returned home. Had we been a little later, every place we went would have been full of peregrinos (pilgrims). We’re glad they came, but also happy not to be there at the same time.